4 Ways to Make a Home Show-Ready

When a home hits the market, it needs to be show-ready. That doesn’t usually require spending a fortune on a remodel, however. Just targeting a few key areas in the home can go a long way.

The New York Times recently highlighted a few tips from real estate pros on preparing a home for sale, including:

Add three points of light. “Every room should have at least three points of light,” Alison Draper, a real estate professional with Halstead Property, told The New York Times. The three points could include a table lamp, floor lamp, and a task light. Or, it may include an overhead fixture and two table lamps.

Shine the floors. You likely can still salvage a worn floor with some polish or professional cleaning. “Unless your floors are severely damaged, it doesn’t make sense to have them refinished,” Pat Christodoulou, a home stager in Connecticut and New York, told The New York Times. She suggests hiring a handyman with a floor buffer, which might cost about $300 to wax and polish the floor of a small living room.

Tidy up the bathroom. The key: Make it sparkle. Re-caulk necessary areas. Investigate small upgrades that can have a big impact on brightening the space, such as swapping out an old faucet or even adding a new shower curtain, bath mat, and fresh towels. For a bathtub in need of some TLC, a professional refinisher can reglaze it, repairing any dents, rub out rust spots, and recoat it for about $500 for a standard-size bathtub, according to Homeadvisor.com.

Deep clean. The key: Make the home sparkle. Wash the windows, inside and out. Vacuum the dust in exhaust fans. “Deep cleaning is so important because while an apartment can show very neatly, it’s the details that people pick up on,” says Heather McMaster, an associate broker at the Corcoran Group. Get more deep-cleaning tips.